69 Percentage of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. for generic drugs. Generics account for 16 percent of total prescription spending.

10-15 Typical number of years needed to develop a new drug, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. A 2007 study estimates the cost to develop a new medicine at $1.3 billion (in 2005 dollars).

21 Number of completely novel drugs (“new molecular entities”) approved by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in 2008. Sixteen were approved in 2007, a year when 2,742 new drug compounds were under development in the U.S.

$73.9 BILLION Average amount spent yearly on “marketing and administration” by 10 major pharmaceutical firms from 1996 through 2005, according to a report from the University of Quebec at Montreal. During that same decade, these drugmakers spent an average of $28.8 billion annually on R&D, while direct-to-consumer advertising more than tripled.

12.6 Average number of retail prescriptions per capita in the U.S. in 2007, according to calculations by the Kaiser Family Foundation, up from 8.9 a decade earlier.

46 million Number of Americans whose drinking water supplies are known to contain at least trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, according to an Associated Press investigation released last year.